Liverpool wonderkid Raheem Sterling, one of the most in-form players in English and European football, cannot be held back because of his age, according to former Manchester United captain, ex England international and current analyst Gary Neville.

The former right back labeled Sterling's current performance-level as "devastating", with a "maturity and physical strength" that belies his teenage years.

The Liverpool attacker has revelled on the left hand side under the tutelage of Brendan Rodgers and has shown a capability of excelling whilst deployed in a more central position on the international stage.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Neville said: "I don’t think any other country in the world would hold a talent like that back. You can’t hold a talent back like that.

"You see what he’s doing in the Premier League. You watched that game against Tottenham and he was devastating. He was absolutely devastating. The thing about young players when they’re 17 or 18, it’s not necessarily about their actual age, it’s about the maturity and their physical strength.

"He’s a strong lad, he can hold people off and you can’t hold certain people back. There are some young players you have to be very careful with, you’ve got to be wary about how you manage them, he’s not one of them."

Sterling has the required talent to help Liverpool in a title-run and, even though he has already broken into Roy Hodgson's England team, he could pretty much make any international squad - including Netherlands, Argentina and Germany.

"He’s robust enough to get through almost a championship run-in last year with Liverpool, he’s now playing for England and he played at a World Cup. His temperament is fantastic in being able to handle an occasion, he doesn’t get worked up about anything or show any levels of anxiety or nerves.

"I think he would be in every single international squad. Whether you could say he would be in every team [is another matter], but I think every single international squad would have him. It would take one hell of a team not to have him and that’s not me putting pressure on him."